JDBC Drivers + Postgres 6.3.2

If anybody can help me i would appreciate it:

OS: HP-UX
java.version: Pre-release(2) HP-UX Java 1.1.2

my driver loads correctly but when i try to make a connection to the
database, i get a NullPointerException.

here's the code:
public String driverName = "postgresql.Driver";
public String url = "jdbc:postgresql://hostname:5432/commanddb?
user=*&password=*";
Connection db;

public connect() throws SQLException,ClassNotFoundException
{
Class.forName(driverName);
println("Driver class loaded.");
db = DriverManager.getConnection(url);
.... it fails here.

the postmaster is running and on the right port. The database commanddb
exists and has test data.

when the app is run, the debug output from the postmaster is:

postmaster: ServerLoop: handling reading 6
postmaster: ServerLoop: handling reading 6
postmaster: ServerLoop: handling reading 6

any ideas??